One of our clients, an award-winning Scottsdale children’s book author, was recently on a popular local TV show promoting a backpack special offer to include the book, puzzles and other items. Two weeks later she had not received a single backpack sale.

A lady in Mesa then contacted the author to let her know that she had been trying to buy her book from the website but kept getting an “internal server error" during check-out. What was going on?

We investigated further and discovered the backpack sales page had been visited 50+ times and there were also “abandoned” carts for other products! Working with the web designer we identified the issue, tested and retested the check-out process, and now online ordering is working properly on the site.

Problem is, those customers wanting to buy are long gone and this also begs the question: How long had this been going on? How many people had tried to purchase but gave up? If it wasn’t for this lady in Mesa we may not have discovered the issue for some time. (Note: The website had been recently optimized so something may have gone awry during that process.)

If you are selling a product from your website, make sure to check your “check-out” process for each product frequently. If you are implementing a marketing campaign and results are not showing, ask yourself the following:

Is your website easy to navigate?

Does it have a clear and compelling call to action?

Is the check-out process simple and, more importantly, does it work?

Test the online sales process yourself and get feedback from friends and associates. Make sure everything is as streamlined as possible. If product check-out is cumbersome or confusing it can make customers abandon the buy.We live in an Amazon world of seamless online buying - people are expecting an easy way to purchase.

Author: Suzanne Jameson

People are probably asking what is "Marketing Baby?" Basically, for any entrepreneur their business is their "baby." The result of long hours of labor. With this blog and Facebook page we hope to provide helpful hints to "newborn" businesses about low-cost marketing strategies.I hope you enjoy these little articles and have fun with it. Marketing - like life - shouldn't be taken too seriously. Let us know if you have questions. May the Marketing Gods be with you!